To analyze the speeches that registered cases of overcrowding at universities in Brazil in the 1960s is the aim of this article, depicting the difficulties related to the distribution of students leaving high school. Emphasis will be given to the condition of the "surplus" student: young people who passed the university entrance exam but could not enroll due to the lack of vacancies. This theme is repeatedly treated in literature regarding student manifestos during the Brazilian military dictatorship. The sources selected for the study were educational periodicals, legislation, opinions, articles of daily newspapers and weekly magazines. It could be observed that students were at the mercy of an educational barrier in passing from one cycle to the next. In high school, there was a movement that sought to speed them up so as to complete the course, while in higher education, the flow of students was dammed up either by the lack of vacancies or other social and academic disorders to be discussed in the text.
higher education; secondary education; student movement; surplus
